Trivia / The Gospel According to St. Matthew

• Amateur Cast: This was done quite frequently in the Italian Neorealism movement. The entire cast was filled with amateurs, some of whom were prominent writers and philosophers. Jesus is played by a 19-year old Spanish student, Enrique Irazoqui, who asked Pasolini for an autograph at a university talk the latter gave. Pasolini immediately cast him as Jesus. After playing Jesus, he later went on to become a professor in economics, literature and computer science expert.
• Real-Life Relative: Marcello Morante (St. Joseph) and Giacomo Morante (John the Apostle) were real life father and son. Elsa Morante, a close friend of Pasolini, who worked as an uncredited assistant director in the movie, was Marcello's sister and Giacomo's aunt.
• Re-Cut: The 2007 DVD release features a colorized, English-dubbed version with a run time of 91 minutes.
• Same Language Dub: Irazoqui, who had no acting experience and minimal Italian skills, was dubbed by well-known actor Enrico Maria Salerno (also the Italian voice actor for Clint Eastwood).
• What Could Have Been: In keeping with his idea of Jesus Christ as the greatest revolutionary of all time, Pasolini considered casting Jack Kerouac or Allen Ginsberg in the role.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: The film was shot without a working script. Pasolini created shotlists at the beginning of each day of filming, and all the dialogue was lifted directly from the Bible.